As a workers co-operative, all our workers are kept informed about all areas of the business.
We report weekly on finances and sales. We also publish our annual accounts with the FCA – these are accessible on the Mutuals Public Register. We think it’s important to share updates with you – our customers, readers, ‘followers’, the public.
In short, we need more money to grow more plants and spread the word about the urgently needed benefits of permaculture. Right now we are seeking £1500 in loans for a minimum of 2 years. Read on for details. Update 15 January: we have secured £1000 and are seeking a further £500.
Some other ways we’re different:
- Earthed Up! doesn’t accept money from banks. We have one bank account with the Co-operative Bank. Our external investment comes from individuals who support our business. Our profits are reinvested – there are no fat cats or shareholders to pay. [Technical point: each member has a £1 non-withdrawable, non-transferable share. They can’t take money out or sell their share – but it does give them ‘voting rights’].
- We all work part-time, some of us have a web of other informal or freelance income streams.
- We’re pretty seasonal. Spring and summer sales are very good, winter is pretty slow and steady.
However, what we have in common with other small businesses, SMEs, is that cashflow can be a challenge. Navigating cashflow issues has taken up a fair amount of meeting time and headspace the last few months. Businesses that are in a growth phase like us (we’re in year 5), require help with cashflow. We are confident that we’re going to do well, and the books will balance out, but that’s zooming out from the here and now.
Business real talk
Spring 2025 was our biggest yet, we sold many more plants than we projected or planned for. Compost sold well. We were able to hire another worker to help a little around our garden and to join the garden maintenance team. Our marketing person left the team to relocate to Wales. Thank you to all our customers and people spreading the word.
This all kept us busy pretty much non-stop, through to July. We also had to put a gate in our wall to confidently maintain access to our nursery. Come August, we were tired and one of us burned out. August sales were poor partly due to the drought, autumn sales were slower than hoped for and going into winter a couple of bills totalled several hundreds pounds more than projected due to inflation.
We currently have £4600 of loans, £2150 due to be repaid within a year. Our projections show we will be able to repay this and turn a profit.
Our plans for 2026 include:
- Attend specialist plant fairs for the first time, beyond Derybshire. We will take our message about the benefits of perennial edible & useful plants to Flower Power Fairs in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and North Yorkshire. As well as monthly farmers’ markets at Belper and Wirksworth, a couple of cool new markets locally, and Belper Goes Green. We will be open at the nursery (more!) regularly too.
- Continue to stock certified organic peat free composts for sale from the nursery, and for delivery locally. We also use SylvaGrow organic in our potting mix; of course, Spring is our busiest time for potting which means buying at least 2 pallets worth of compost in February.
- Grow an expanded range of interesting perennial edible & useful plants. This means buying some seed in and requires our time to grow and care for the plants. We will be collaborating with other local growers to help make this happen.
- Developing a better integrated, more efficient and more searchable online plant shop ready for autumn. This will help to “fix” our winter cash flow in 2026/7.
- Find and take on more garden design projects to fill with food, plants for wildlife, and habitat, to be enjoyed by people.
- Continue to do all the other important things we do together as a business. Pay workers, the tax man, our rent, the accountant, and whoever else absolutely must have some money.
We have scheduled dates further ahead of time to ensure capacity in the team and to be able to confidently book holidays. We may hire another worker to help with sales and growing in the Spring if demand requires.
Investment needed
To achieve the above, we’re going to need some money. And as we’ve already said, we don’t want that money to come from a bank – we’d much rather build with our community, with people who actually care about the work we’re doing and the world we’re trying to build. With that in mind, we are seeking loanstock of £1500 for a minimum of 2 years. You can read more about Loanstock by clicking here.
If you would like to support our mission and would like to invest, please email us.
Maybe you have cash sat in a bank savings account earning a small % interest rate. We can offer small % interest too, along with the social impact of employing people in sustainable livelihoods and making agroecological plants and healthy compost more accessible to all.
Thanks for reading, and for any support you might be able to offer. Together, we can hopefully make the world a little bit greener.
Earthed Up! 